Chapter: 15
Slowly a strong aroma began to attack her nostrils. The smell of coffee filled her nose and caused her hand to reach out towards the direction of the smell before her eyes even opened. She felt the cup come to her and she opened her eyes slightly to see Kenshin smiling down at her. His hair was tied back contrary to last night and he had obviously shaved. He was wearing dark blue jeans that hung off his hips loosely and a button up white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
In Kaoru's lethargic state he looked like an angel. The bright rays of the sun shone through the window behind him and bounced off his white shirt making him look like he was glowing. She took the cup of coffee staring at him her mouth slightly agape. Soon her fuzzy perception of reality cleared up and she realized what she looked like. She quickly brought the cup to her mouth and took a sip her eyes closing trying to capture the goodness of the coffee's taste.
Soon the coffee hit her system and her half lidded eyes opened fully. She sat up and looked at the clock. She found it was about 6:00.
"Kenshin...why am I awake?" She asked sinking back into his bed. She placed her hand over her eyes trying to make the room dark again. He had pulled the shades off the window making the rising sun very bright.
"Because HE wants you to go in for questioning." Kenshin said throwing a bright yellow sun dress with orange flowers on it at her. The dress landed on her face and she threw it back at him.
"I don't wear dresses that I didn't pick out...I don't wear dresses." She said to him lifting her head and looking at him one eye closed from the dazzling brightness of the sun. Kenshin began to laugh.
"I don't care. You're a woman and my boss likes to see women dressed as they should be." Kenshin said and Kaoru sat up objectively.
"Excuse me? Women can wear whatever they want! I don't have to wear a dress!" She said looking down at it sitting in her lap.
"Listen, HE is an old fashioned type of guy and HE thinks you should wear a dress." He said sitting down at her feet.
"I keep forgetting HE's the mob boss..." She said grabbing the dress and pulling his covers off of her body. "When did you wake up?" She asked him a small yawn escaping her lips.
"An hour ago. We have to be there at 6:45." He said standing up and walking down the stairs to let her change. His memory was plagued with her image. That morning he had woken up to her beautiful face. Her skin was a silky touchable peach. The dim grey of the morning light glowing behind her as he stared into her angelic face.
He walked into the kitchen and continued his cooking. He was making waffles. He had set out everything they needed to eat them and all he had to do was finish making the batter and cook them in the already heating waffle maker.
He continued to mix the batter together and add more items in the recipe when she walked down the white stair case. Her vibrant orange and yellow dress was a colorful change in scenery and accented her curves. She looked at him her hair pulled up in a pony tail a few wisps of bangs lining her face.
"Any other ridiculous items you'd like me to throw on? Am I womanly enough for you?" She asked a light spark of anger in her voice.
"Kaoru, you've always been womanly enough for me...it's my boss." Kenshin said smirking to himself as he looked down at his waffle mix choosing to ignore her shocked facial features.
She was about to shout and yell and correct his wrongs but she choose to ignore his comment. Her face turned red partly in anger and partly in embarrassment and she continued to run down the staircase towards him. She slowed to a walk and trotted over to were he was standing. She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist resting her head on his shoulder.
"Watcha' doin'?" She asked into his ear breathing on his neck. He smiled her hot breath sending a tickling sensation through his body as he tried to pay attention to what he was doing.
"Making waffles." He said clearing his throat to keep himself focused.
"Neat." She said moving her head closer to his neck. Her breath danced across his neck and ear as she watched what he was doing. Kenshin was having trouble restraining himself from turning around and making a move but he knew she was messing with his head. She knew what places make a guy squirm so she used it to her advantage.
He knew she was just trying to get him back but he couldn't control himself. He closed his eyes trying to control his emotions feeling like a teenager again. 'She's such a tease.' He thought angered by her cunning ways. Suddenly he was jerked out of his thoughts by a sharp irritation on the skin of his ear. His eyes snapped open and the irritation was classified as a bite.
'She bit my ear! She bit my ear!' his thoughts screamed. "Ah! Hey, Kaoru." Kenshin said moving his head around to get her further from his ear. He was trying to concentrate, he was trying to go to his bosses office with a clear mind for once.
It seemed like ever time he went there his mind was in a dazed fog from some sort of poisoning. Be it women, drugs, alcohol or any other distracting substance. He hated to say no when she was the one who started this but he didn't want to worry and be late and look like he mixed work with pleasure any more.
"What? My femininity isn't your thing?" She asked into his ear sarcastically. Kenshin smiled and despite himself turned around in her arms setting his hands on her shoulders. He looked deep into her eyes with his dark lavender eyes sparkling with cunning excitement.
"Your femininity is defiantly my thing. But, I don't want to get to distracted." He said calmly running the back of his hand down her soft cheek.
"You're right." She said jumping back from him and laughing a bit. Kenshin dropped his hand almost in a disappointed way. She smiled at him and pointed at the waffles as she turned and walked to the table and sat down gingerly. Kenshin reluctantly turned around and poured the waffle mix into the maker and waited for it to finish cooking.
He set the finished waffles down on the table and they ate in silence. Some time during the meal Kaoru felt a light tap on her foot and she looked up at Kenshin who seemed to be enwrapped in his mess of waffles and syrup.
She decided to be difficult and rubbed her foot along his leg smiling coyly and looking up ever so slightly. His head shot up at the contact and stared at her a bit shocked. His shock faded just as quickly as it came and he just smirked at her. "Don't want to give up do you?" He asked standing up and grabbing her plate. He scrapped the food off of it into the garbage then walked to the sink to wash the plate.
She stood up and walked up behind him once more. She wiggled her hands under his arms and helped him wash the plate. She scooped up a chunk of the bubbles that stuck together and brought it up to his face. He moved his head back to avoid confrontation but she ended up squishing it into his face anyway. He laughed at her and turned his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye.
"I can only resist you for so long..." He whispered into her cheek softly kissing it then looking back to his dish. Kaoru grinned knowing if she just kept it up a bit longer she could get what she wanted.
"Kaoru, we have to leave." He said looking at his watch. She nodded and they both walked down the stairs. Kenshin grabbed the keys and Kaoru slipped on yellow flip flops and they walked to his small car. They jumped in and took off.
"Kenshin?" Kaoru asked looking at him the wind blowing through her hair from the rolled down windows.
"What?" He asked looking at her quickly then back to the road.
"You said you were coming after me last night. But you didn't." She said staring deeply at him.
"Yes I did." He said flatly as if she should know that.
"You didn't bust into the restaurant and hold your gun to his head threatening to kill him if he didn't let me go and come home safely with you." She said her eyes innocent but showing she had given it much thought.
"Kaoru, even if I did go inside I wouldn't have done that to such a powerful and influential man like Kessler." Kenshin said trying to stifle his laughter at her idea.
"Wait, you were outside? Kenshin Himura you better tell me what you were doing and where you went last night before I sound even more stupid." Kaoru shouted sitting with her hands folded in her lap waiting for an explanation.
"I left shortly after you did, following your limo to the restaurant. I sat outside watching over you carefully to make sure he didn't do anything or try to take you anywhere else. He and I both knew he wasn't taking you last night and wouldn't do anything either. That's why barging in and waving my gun around wouldn't do anything. So I sat outside watching you and the server of your table saw me in the reflection of a picture on the wall. He came out assuming I was going to rob the place or something stupid like than and I ended up being pushed into the pool. So now that I was wet and angry I jumped out of the pool, persuaded the waiter to kindly go back inside and serve you like he should. He obeyed and I sat in the bushes when I got attacked by a squirrel.
The squirrel put up a good fight along with two of his buddies but I managed to throw them into the street where a semi scared the shit out of them and they ran. So now with severe scratch wounds and the chlorine seeping into my wounds making them sting I continued to watch. Soon I could feel a cold coming on from the freezing air and my wet clothes. So I went home knowing you could handle yourself, but not without bribing the boy who parked your car to keep watch over you. I went home and...got sick and you know the rest." He said watching the road the whole time.
Kaoru couldn't help but laugh at his story but it made sense. She felt better about the night and soon they pulled into the parking lot. The same valet took their car and parked it as they walked up to the same building and into the same steel elevator.
They waited in the same silence, Kaoru smiling at the thought of Kenshin being attacked by squirrels. She looked over at him and realized he did have a few scratches on his arms and one small one above his eyebrow. Kenshin's imperial colored eyes gazed at her in anticipation. He worried she wouldn't be able to answer the questions right, he worried HE would have Kenshin taken out of the room, he worried she would get scared and forget what happened. He worried to much.
"So what exactly do I have to do?" She asked breaking the silence.
"HE'll ask you questions and you answer them." Kenshin said.
"Smart ass..." Kaoru whispered into the silence, her voice seeming to sink into the metal doors.
"He'll just ask you questions about last night. Questions that I would have asked if I was well last night." He said.
"Oh." She said looking at the floor in thought. "Give short but decisive answers. Don't go into detail and don't add frivolous information." Kenshin added, ensuring her success with his boss. The elevator screeched to a halt and they stepped out and down the hall.
"I can't believe I told HIM Kessler was hot." Kaoru said her hand on her head as they drove down the road.
"I can't believe HE agreed." Kenshin replied surprise running across his face. Kaoru turned her head and smiled at him the started to laugh. Both of them laughed for a while and Kaoru turned up the radio which was playing Creed.
"Kaoru, do you like Kessler?" Kenshin asked, his voice breaking the silence in the room. Kaoru looked up from her cooking and peered at the red headed man reading the news paper. Kenshin never looked up form the black and white article.
"I think, he is charming, and handsome." She said after a while of thinking. She had to use the right words, she didn't want Kenshin to be jealous or angry. Kenshin didn't answer, he just continued to read as if she had been speaking to herself. She looked down at her mush for food and walked over towards Kenshin sitting at the round wooden table. She put on hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her.
"Why?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips. "Well, I figure that if you like him and he likes you then you should go with him and he can get our money and the mob won't have to deal with him." He said looking back down at his paper. Kaoru was horrified. Did that mean Kenshin didn't want to deal with her either?
She backed up into the kitchen slowly trying to calm her beating heart. She was so scared Kenshin was going to just, give her up. Her eyes were wide and she was breathing shallowly as she thought over her options. Soon, after the smell of burning food hit her nostrils, she formulated a plan to get Kenshin to change his mind.
She continued to cook the food, even if her cooking skills were, of lower quality. Once she was finished with her stew she poured it into two separate bowls and set one down in front of Kenshin. They ate their food in silence and Kaoru walked up stairs to set up her plan to keep Kenshin with her.
A/N: Flog me. Do it::Throws rock in air and allows it to hit me on the head: Join in! Maybe I'll get the hint and fucking update! I hate me as much as you do for this short chapter. I promise I will have the next update up by July 1st or your money back. Acctually, if I'm late, I promise I will have some sort of a surprise for you as a reward. Now, it doesn't count if I update on July 1st and it doesn't show until July 2nd.